The cast of Ibiza Shore
Paris Hilton raised $100,000 for children with disabilities by throwing a kiddie rave at Amnesia
This year, the local government has tightened regulations over beach bars and clubs on the island, responding to complaints from residents over parties getting more frequent and out of control. In October, the island's governing council imposed a 6:30AM curfew on megaclubs, effective next year. Bars and music venues will have to close at 5AM. The Balearic government also proposed in September a new tourist tax of €1 to €2 per person per day, effective next year. (Details on where and how the tax will be paid are still being hashed out.)This levy will hit middle-class visitors hardest—a family of four would have to cough up an additional £80 for a fortnight's stay—and angry tour operators fear it will drive away business; ABTA, the UK's largest travel association, even called it "a recipe for disaster." But officials argue that the revenue will go towards easing the significant environmental strain tourists are putting on the island's limited natural resources. "It is a small price but the benefits will be enormous," said the Balearic Minister of Tourism Biel Barcelo (who is also the Vice President of the Balearic government and leader of the left-wing political party Mes), in an interview with the Majorca Daily Bulletin.As locals attempt to save Ibiza from becoming the Jersey Shore of the Mediterranean, the nightlife industry is starting to feel the pinch of these growing pains. Parties across the island that previously operated with relative impunity from the law are facing widespread crackdowns, as authorities seek to enforce new regulations.
Merrymakers at Pukka Up, a popular boat party in Ibiza (Photo via PukkaUp.com)
One of those parties was Rumors, a popular party started by Israeli tech-house DJ Guy Gerber that often drew up to 3,000 people to a beach-side bar called Beachhouse. On September 13, plainclothes officers visited the Sasha and Miss Kitten-headlined party while it was in full swing, shutting it down for more than an hour. Eventually, the party was allowed to resume, but music was only allowed to be played inside and no more people were allowed to enter from the beach."With Paris Hilton DJing at Amnesia, Ibiza is turning into Las Vegas."—Carl Craig
Guy Gerber's Rumors party at Beachhouse in Ibiza
When I spoke with him on the phone a month later from his studio in Toronto, Gerber explained what happened from his perspective: "In Ibiza, you have to respect the situation—there are a lot of forces that have been going for a long time, and Rumors was a new thing. I didn't promote it or talk about it too much, and tried to keep it as low-profile as possible, but [the authorities] just found out." He also admitted that Beachhouse also didn't have "too many licenses.""The government has changed in Ibiza, and sadly they want to change the island—they want to have less people partying and less people getting fucked up," Gerber continued. Beachhouse is parked in the middle of Playa d'en Bossa—a long stretch of beach on the island's southeast coast that has a reputation for drawing seedy British tourists. According to the New York Times, the area is being eyed by the Matutes family, one of the biggest investors in Ibiza, which has proposed a $380 million plan to revitalize the area, including building a luxury mall and golf course. Per the article, the plan has been stalled as local businesses worry about hits to their business—but it could one of the reasons why Gerber's party was hit.
"It's a shame because free parties on the beach is what the island is about," Gerber said. "There's no need to think—you just come and hang out, it's easy.""Free parties on the beach is what the island is about. There's no need to think—you just come and hang out, it's easy."—Guy Gerber
Carl Craig at a Detroit Love party at No Name in Ibiza (Photo via Carl Craig/Facebook)
"It's very short-sighted for the politics to get in the way," Craig concluded. "They are going to take away the spice from the island, and if they keep going the way they're going, Ibiza is going to be lame—and it won't be cool again for another 20 years."Next summer will bring even more change with the 6:30AM curfew, which will be enforced with tickets and fines. In previous years, each of Ibiza's five municipal zones had its own curfew, which was rarely followed anyway; when I stopped by Amnesia's closing party this year, I stumbled out—along with five thousand other revelers—when the club closed around 2PM."I have the feeling the new government wants to clean up Ibiza"—tINI
But the situation on the island is more complicated than it appears. Some promoters support the idea of the government having more control over the parties popping up all over Ibiza. Nacho Capella, the PR manager at Amnesia and a promoter for a popular German techno party there called Hyte, thinks the beach parties are partly to blame for this new club curfew. "The island was already a party island, but it was more respectful and controlled before," he said over the phone. "Now, everyone is a promoter and a DJ. This summer was too much—three or four days a week there were beach parties. It's hurting our business at the big clubs."This Video of Confused Ibiza Clubbers Is an Ode to the Beautiful Disappointment of Life
The crowd at Amnesia's closing party in October (Photo via Amnesia/Facebook)